“We certainly game planned for his absence," said head coach Jim Schwartz following the Lions' 22-9 loss.

"We were prepared in any case. We were prepared for him to go in and do everything, prepared for him to be limited and prepared for him to not play. He ended up not playing today. It didn’t take us by surprise. We knew he didn’t practice very much this week.”

For fans, though, this was somewhat unexpected considering Megatron hasn't missed a game since the 2010 season finale.

"It's tough," said Johnson following the game. "You see your boys out there grinding and not to be able to be out there with (them is tough). You always want to be out there to play with them. Especially on Sundays, it's the one chance of the week."

For two of the highest-scoring offenses in the NFL, the game had an odd complexion.

“They didn’t really stack the box today,” Bush said. “We saw some six-man boxes and we should have taken advantage of that. We had the chance and we didn’t. I have to do a better job of running the ball. I've got to be better.”